Saving Private DuFresne
by StripedHatter
Summary: Lieutenant Cody of the UNSC picks up a mission to check Blood Gulch Outpost after reports of malicious activity- her real intent being the possibility of seeing an old friend, Frank DuFresne, better known as Doc. However, upon arrival the Reds and Blues show up, and before she even gets a chance to talk to Doc he disappears. It's up to Cody and the teams to save him.[updates thurs]
1. Chapter One

_Where. The fuck. Am I._

That was Lieutenant Anneliese Cody's first thought upon exiting her crash-landed ship to find vacant countryside in the middle of nowhere. She had woken twenty minutes before to turbulent spiraling toward a planet surface. She assumed that meant she'd come into range of her target destination and the ship's navigational features kicked in, but something must have gone screwy with the coordinates, because this looked less like a military outpost and more like ass-nowhere. She sighed and started off, hoping her ship had at least gotten the right planet. Command was going to be _pissed._

For a while, it was all dust and thorns and wild golden grass, stretching up to a distant white sun. Cody didn't have much by way of supplies, but she passed enough streams and fruit-bearing plants to alleviate her worry. A forest rose to the north, off to her left, and shortly after she found it: a useless box canyon.

But as she approached the edge of the cliffs bordering it, she looked down and groaned. No bases.

"Fuck," she muttered. "Who puts _two_ useless box canyons on the same fucking planet?"

With a huff, she carried on, skirting the edge and heading into plains on the canyon's other side. Traces of water and fruit began to fade, but she had daylight left, or at least it looked like she did. Knowing her luck, that sun was slowly setting rather than rising. A gadget beeped in her pocket. She pretended she didn't hear it- as if she could miss a sound in this silent arid landscape- and walked on. Not ready to talk to Command, not just yet.

Hills emerged from the plains and she groaned again. _You've got to be fucking kidding me._ Whatever hellscape she'd entered, she didn't see why the UNSC bothered to keep an active base in it. Honestly- the simulation troopers that had been there vastly outgrew their positions and headed out. There wasn't supposed to even be anyone left there. But Command had sensed movement in the canyon, and they wanted someone to investigate. And Cody had her own reasons for interest in that outpost, so she signed on. No one else volunteered. Go figure.

Her thighs ached. Her feet ached. Her throat was parched. It was hot. This planet was _fucking miserable,_ and as she ascended and descended the hills, it seemed they would never end. Soon, every direction stretched endless with, just, more fucking hills. If there was really a God, he was a fucking dick to design this place. Cody had an easier time field training on Sidewinder than this useless hell-hole.

Then, at last, the hills ended- and another useless box canyon stretched before her. _I swear to fuck, if this isn't it, I'm walking back to the ship._

The sun was definitely setting, sending scarlet streaks across an open sky from a merge of bruise-purple clouds on a distant horizon. The opposite side of the canyon showed more hills- and more to the south, with a couple of plateaus. North, mountains. If this wasn't it, Cody had a long walk in the dark back to the smoking rubble of her ship.

But as she walked forward, and looked down into the box canyon, relief filled her: There at the north, a red base, and there at the south, a blue base. And in the middle- a crash-landed banshee, with nine troopers filing out of it.

"Fuck," Cody muttered, seeing the colors.

Red. Orange. Maroon. Pink. Blue. Black. Turquoise. And- cyan? Aqua? Off-turquoise? What the fuck is that color's name? Anyway. The Reds and Blues were back in Blood Gulch- and that made Cody's job a hell of a lot harder to report.

With a sigh, she ducked back behind a boulder and called Command.

"Lieutenant Cody," came the smooth greeting. "Have you arrived in Blood Gulch Outpost? We received the alert hours ago of your ship's 'landing.'"

"Just arrived, sir," Cody said. "Something went wrong with the ship's navigational procedures, but I've made it to Blood Gulch. Looks quiet in the canyon for now. I'll investigate and let you know what I find."

"Lieutenant Cody."

"Yes?"

"Please spare no detail in your reports- and remember this is a reconnaissance mission, no matter what you find. You go, you search, you come back. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Thank you. We look forward to hearing from you soon."

With a signifying _beep,_ the line went dead. Cody exited from behind the boulder and, by use of a grappling hook, began the descent into the canyon. Her magenta armor stood out against the sun-kissed bronze cliffs, but she hoped she'd at least make it-

An explosion shook the cliffs and her grappling hook dislodged.

" _Fuck!"_

Cody fell the last twenty feet to the path that hugged the cliffs and landed on her back, the wind knocked out of her. She had never been so thankful for the clunky exo-suit the UNSC provided.

As she regained her breath and the shock began to wear off, Cody sat up, rubbing her back with an idle hand. Then her eyes fell on cyan- turquoise? Aqua? _What fucking color is that?_ \- boots.

She looked up, following the boots to a visor and the glare of a plasma sword.

"And just who, the fuck, are you?"

Cody scrambled to her feet, one hand going to her holster. "I'm asking the questions."

The guy actually laughed. "Yeah, okay. You and what fucking army? I can say that this time, because I know you don't have one."

"Yeah, well, no one was supposed to be here any-fucking-way," Cody snapped. "This outpost is _supposed_ to be deserted. So unless you're a fucking ghost, I don't need you to be here."

"Woo, _feisty._ When you say 'fucking' ghost, is that, like, a necrophilia thing? I could be a ghost for you."

Cody stared blankly for a minute. "What?"

"Bow-chicka-bow-wow."

"Tucker!" A voice from the canyon called Cody's attention to the guy in black armor, who still stood next to the crash-landed banshee. "What'd you find out?"

"She's into necrophilia!" Cyan/aqua/turquoise guy- Tucker- called back. Cody rolled her eyes, and turned to the guy in black.

"I'm Lieutenant Cody from the UNSC! I'm here to investigate claims of activity in this canyon! It's supposed to be deserted!"

"And I'm Caboose!" yelled the blue guy, causing the guy in black to send him a sharp elbow.

Cody turned back to Tucker. "Wanna introduce me to your friends or is hospitality too fucking much to expect?"

"We don't make a habit of being extra polite to invaders," Tucker said. "But I guess I could make an exception for you."

Cody started down the path. "I'll take care of it on my own."

"Suit yourself!"

Tucker followed as Cody trotted down the cliff path and into the canyon base. She reached the group and went immediately to the one in purple. "Frank!"

He didn't say anything, and then seemed to recognize her. "Anneliese?"

"Yeah!" She greeted him, laughing lightly. "Been a while, huh?"

The one in black glanced between them. "Wait, you two know each other?"

"Enough pillow-talk!" The standard-issue red one shouted. "What's the UNSC doin' investigating Blood Gulch?"

Cody turned to him, but before she could reply, the maroon one said, "Sarge, she just told us on the cliffs. Blood Gulch is supposed to be deserted and she's finding out why we're here."

"No, actually," Cody said. "Close, but no. I'm supposed to be finding out _what's_ here. We got reports of activity in the canyon from two weeks ago; you just got back, correct?"

"Correctamundo!" Sarge said. He peered around suspiciously, aiming his shotgun at shadows. "So what's been waitin' here for us?"

"Oh, come on," the orange one said. "You know it's probably just Kaikanna and her raves."

Cody turned her attention to the orange guy. "Kaikanna?"

"My sister."

Confusion wrinkled Cody's brow behind her visor. "And she… Throws raves…?"

"Oh, yeah, every weekend at least," the maroon one said. "We try not to be here for most of them, because it disturbs Grif."

"Speak for yourselves," Tucker said. "Blue Team is all about some raves!"

"Please don't judge Blue Team by what Tucker says," the one in black said, sighing. "I'm Agent Washington, formerly of Project Freelancer. You said there's been activity in this canyon?"

Cody felt a wash of relief. This one, at least, seemed to have _some_ sense. "Yes- unusual reports about computer databases sending out signals. Not calls for help- more like radar scanning and system hacking. Failures to get behind firewalls, that sort of thing."

"Yeah, that's more Simmons' kind o' thing," Sarge spoke up. "All that techni-calcical kind o' junk. He's good at that."

"Well, Sarge, that's not wrong," the maroon one said with a hint of pride.

"'Course it's not!" Sarge said. "Am I ever wrong?"

The orange one, presumably Grif, jumped at that, "Well, there was that one time-"

"No! I am never wrong! I am your superior!"

Cody turned Agent Washington. "Can we talk in private?"

The cyan/aqua/turquoise one again: "Bow-chicka-bow-wow!"

Cody sighed. This was going to be a longer mission than she'd expected.

 **~O~**

As it turned out, the turquoise one was also a former Freelancer, Agent Carolina. Cody brought the two Freelancers and the maroon one, Simmons, who was supposed to be good with computers. They settled in a quiet room in Blue Base, while the rest of the teams dispersed in the canyon. Cody _really_ wanted to talk to Frank, but it seemed it would have to wait.

"So," Cody said, "Based on my ship's navigational procedure being compromised, I have reason to believe the root of the malicious activity is here. Did your ship undergo a similar experience?"

"No," Washington said with a sigh. "That was just Donut displaying his ability to fly."

"Right- and Donut's the pink one?"

"Right."

"Your pilot?"

"No."

"But he was… Flying the banshee…?"

"Right."

Cody decided it was better not to question it. In the short time she'd been speaking to the two Blood Gulch teams, she'd learned a lot more about their personalities than she thought she needed to know. She nodded once. "Okay. So, my next question: why _are_ you back at Blood Gulch?"

"It's kind of a home-base for the teams," Washington answered. "Before Carolina and I got here, it was Tucker, Grif, Simmons, Sarge, and this guy Church. He's a long story for another time. Then they got the rookies, Caboose and Donut. Then Doc came along, and-"

"Doc? You mean Private First Class DuFresne?"

"Yeah, we just call him Doc. Anyway. Then another Freelancer, Agent Texas, got here, and over time, we all kind of got here. And left. There were all these things that kept coming up to take us out of the canyon. But Grif's sister was always here, and Doc stayed here a lot, and it's where everything started, so it just… Made sense to come back here. We left this time to visit Chorus; they had some kind of medal ceremony and Kimball wanted to 'honor' us. Caboose brought Freckles, Freckles misfired into the crowd, Sarge gave a twenty-one-shot salute to the air, Grif stole the entire supply of burritos, and, well… We decided it was better we didn't linger."

"Uh-huh." Cody processed this. _Freckles?_ "So, you're back at Blood Gulch because it's kind of a home base, and you just got back from Chorus. When did you leave to Chorus?"

"About a month ago."

"Did Grif's sister come with you?"

"No, she was here."

Cody's mind ran back over the details from the mission file. "But the activity _we_ registered came from beneath the canyon, not either particular base- and I don't think Kaikanna was crafting malicious software alongside her raves."

"No," Simmons agreed, "I mentioned the word download to her once and she thought it was a, erm, _position."_

"Gotcha," Cody said. "That means I have to find the source of the activity, and I've got to do so before Command finds out _you're_ here."

Carolina looked up at that. "Why is that?"

"Because if they know you're here, they'll blame you, and say you were the ones responsible from the start. You guys have done a lot of good, but it's been peppered with a lot of bad-"

"Oh, come on, like what?" Washington said. Cody raised an eyebrow, unseen.

"Like mass destruction of property, sketchy reports of how you defeated the Meta or supposedly didn't, need I go on…?"

"Yes, you do need to go on, we're fucking heroes," came another voice. Cody sighed as she recognized it as Tucker's.

She turned to him. "Be that as it may, you've still caused a lot of damage. I'm not your enemy here. I'm trying to find the real culprit before UNSC even has a chance to suspect you. Work with me or against me, but that's my job."

"What kind of soldier are you?"

Cody turned to Carolina. "What do you mean?"

Carolina leaned forward. "Do you get the job done at all costs, or do you back out if the sacrifice is too much?"

"Any cost to myself, I'll make," Cody said. "Someone else's sacrifice isn't mine to claim."

Carolina sat back, arms folded, and turned to Washington. "I think she sounds decent."

Washington looked over at Carolina. "You only think that because you don't see her as competition."

Carolina shrugged. "At least I'm not trying to kill her."

Washington sighed, and turned back to Cody. "Well. You're welcome to stay at our base. You've met Tucker, Caboose, and Carolina; the one in yellow is Grif's sister Kaikanna. You'll see her around. And upside down. And- anyway. If you have any questions, let us know."

"There," Tucker said, "Is your fucking hospitality you were bitching out."

Cody turned to Tucker. "Well thank you very much, didn't know you needed Washington to speak for you."

"He's kind of the responsible mature one," Carolina said.

"Then what are you?"

"The competitive ass-kicking one that everyone's scared of."

Simmons and Tucker nodded. "That about sums it up."

Cody blew out a breath. "Okay. Thank you, Agent Washington, for the offer; my ship is a few miles west of here, so I'm probably going to take you up on it. For now, I need to speak with 'Doc.' Anyone know where he is?"

"Eh, probably in the caves," Tucker said.

"Why?"

Simmons shrugged. "It's just where he lives most of the time."

"He doesn't stay at a base?"

"He's not red or blue," Carolina said.

"Kaikanna's fucking yellow," Cody said. "That's another primary color."

"Yeah, but Command said she's blue," Simmons said.

"That doesn't-" Cody cut off, sighing and pressing her glove to her visor. She looked up again. "Okay. Well, thank you, I'll be back in a bit."

She headed out, leaving the meeting. She had some good intel- there were caves in the canyon, and the only known individual in it during the time of activity probably couldn't even operate a computer. She wondered what exactly _Freckles_ was, but she didn't want to question it. Not yet.

The canyon sloped in front of her, fading to periwinkle in gathering dusk, and Cody headed back up the path on the cliffs, entering a compact cave system. She found where Frank had been camping, but didn't find him near the cot and packs of supplies. She scoped the rest of the caves, crossed the canyon, ran through those caves. Stopped by Red Base, where Donut, the pink one, said he hadn't seen Doc since they parted ways after leaving the banshee. Donut seemed to think Doc had gone back to the caves.

Worry prickled to concern as Cody returned to the other side of the canyon, back to the blue base. Exo-suits had been discarded, but it seemed colors were continuous, making Blue Team still recognizable.

"Find him?" Washington asked as Cody entered. She shook her head and sighed.

"No- not in the caves, or anywhere in the canyon. Tell me, does he have any history with computers?"

"Just an angry AI that implanted itself into his head," Carolina said, green eyes flashing with memories. Cody nodded.

"And has he done anything malevolent recently?"

They glanced at each other, and then Tucker answered, "He wasn't exactly on our side against the Blues and Reds, but that was… Kinda warranted. We didn't even know his first name for a long time. Just called him Doc."

Cody nodded and took off her helmet, setting it on an end table. She sighed and sat down in one of Blue Team's numerous folding chairs sat around the base. "I think he's gone missing."

"Wouldn't be the first time," Carolina said. "He just kind of does that."

"Yeah, but we never look for him," Tucker said. "That was one of the points he made. He's been through a lot of shit, and we just never gave a shit."

Cody's chest twinged at the words. Poor Frank. "We should conduct a search party tomorrow. Aren't the caves underneath the canyon as well?"

"Yeah, but no one goes in them anymore," Washington said. "They're not the safest place."

"He might be down there. Who's up for a search party?"

Blue Team glanced at each other, not exactly volunteering. Cody huffed and planted a hand on her hip. "I _said,_ who's up for a search party? Come on, you were just talking about never doing anything for him. This is your chance to make it up."

"I'll go."

Cody glanced over, surprised. "Really?"

Tucker nodded. "Yeah. Who else is coming? Come on, you fucks, volunteer."

"I'll go!" Caboose said, entering the room with, presumably, Kaikanna just behind him. He had a tray in his hands. "And look! I baked cookies! No one can stand a chance against cookies."

The circular black bricks on the tray didn't _look_ like any cookies Cody would want to eat, but Caboose volunteering was worth it.

"I'll come, too," Carolina sighed. Washington appeared surprised, eyebrows lifting.

"Really?"

Carolina met his eyes. "Someone has to make sure they don't die." She glanced at Cody. "No offense."

"None taken. I was always better with the intelligence part of things than combat."

Carolina grinned. "Good. That makes even less of a chance for us to be rivals."

Cody grinned back, and then glanced around. "So- Carolina, Caboose, and Tucker, we'll leave at dawn and go to the caves to search for Doc. Agreed?"

Tucker groaned. "Does it have to be dawn? I just went through a traumatic ship-wreck earlier this day, my neck hurts, I want to sleep in…"

"Oh, shut the fuck up, you whiny bitch," Cody said. Tucker's grin surprised her.

"I like her," Washington said. "And I'll stay here with Kaikanna to keep an eye on the base. You know, in case the reds… Do… Something."

"Right," Tucker said. "Those dangerous fucking reds, the awful bastards. Agent Washington will keep us all safe from their wily ways."

"You know it," Washington said, taking a hard bite into one of Caboose's cookies, which crumbled and cracked.

"Is it good?" Caboose asked, and Washington's face screwed up before he forced himself to swallow.

"Mhm," he said painfully, coughing lightly. "Delicious."

"Yay!" Caboose cheered. "We shall feed them to the enemy! And it will be delicious! And then the enemy will have to be our friend!"

Cody sighed, grinning nonetheless.

Oh, yeah- this was going to be a _long_ mission.

* * *

 _a/n: hiya~ this is going to be a fic taking place after season 15, centered around an old friend of doc. it might not be strictly accurate, and when season 16 comes out, it might be entirely wrong, but as of season 15 here we are. so this is a while after the blues and reds staged their attack on earth, when the reds and blues have been running on their own for a while, somewhat back in retirement or at least not immediately pressed to do anything. hope you enjoy! don't forget to review!_


	2. Chapter Two

Wind howled through the canyon, keeping Cody up most of the night. Her dreams, composed of the crash-landing the previous day or glimpses of basic training, blinked in and out of consciousness between chorusing wind. Relief joined the faded light of pre-dawn, and Cody pulled herself off the cot she'd slept on in the room Carolina and Kaikaina shared. Carolina stirred as Cody woke, and then fell back asleep shortly after; Kaikaina snored loudly, sprawled across her bunk with one arm hanging off. Cody passed both of them and headed out the archway toward the main room of the base.

Agent Washington, already awake, stoically completed a set of pushups just outside the kitchen, a mug of coffee chilling on the floor next to him. He glanced at Cody as she meandered into the kitchen and muttered a greeting; she returned it out of instinctive politeness, and then made for the coffee pot. The smell of life wafted from bitter black liquid. With a fresh mug of coffee for herself, Cody took a seat in one of the chairs in the main room as Washington moved to crunches, and she withdrew her tablet to check the news.

The news page didn't load, and Cody sipped her coffee in confusion, checking the signal. No bars. She went to the tablet's settings and refreshed the signal; nothing changed. It didn't appear connected to its internal network. Cody turned to Washington.

"Does the base have a computer?"

"Yeah, of course," Washington said. "It's up by the roof."

Cody paused in confusion, thinking of weather patterns' affect on technology, and then shrugged away the thought and rose. "I'll be right back- I need to check something."

She left her tablet on the chair and headed up, coffee still in the roof, she found a large system spread out across a few monitors. The same wallpaper, a blue teddy bear, echoed on each screen. She checked its connection- dead, as well. Cody sighed. She tested her radio- she picked up transmissions from the red base, and static from an unnamed channel, and nothing else. She couldn't even call Command. Maybe they'd send someone; that definitely set a time limit on exiting this canyon.

Cody headed back downstairs to find Washington and Tucker disputing the morning's activities.

"Fuck no! We're not at Valhalla or Chorus! You're not automatically going to dictate the schedule!"

"Tucker, we're still Blue Team, I'm still acting leader-"

"This is Blood Gulch! No one does shit in Blood Gulch! For fuck's sake, we had movie night eight weeks in a row here once!"

Washington sighed. "Tucker, it's not even that much-"

Cody cleared her throat, and went ignored. She sighed as they continued.

"It's too much! I'm not fucking doing it! I wanna sit on my ass and eat the powdered donuts I stole from Red Base!"

"That's not beneficial in the long run-"

"But a _long run_ is? No! I'm not doing it."

"Tuck-"

"Not doing it!"

"Tucker!" Washington's voice sharpened. " _Go do your fucking laps or join Red Team!_ It's my fucking team and you'll do what the fuck I say!"

Tucker sighed. "I fucking hate you, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know. Go do your laps."

Tucker, at last, moved toward the door, and then paused and glanced back. "Why aren't you doing laps? Or Caboose?"

"I already did my morning PT, and Caboose isn't up yet," Washington said. "Now _go."_

Tucker hesitated, and then finally went out the door. Cody turned to Washington. "Done with your lady drama yet?"

"Aren't you a lady?"

"I'm a female. There's a difference."

"I- yes, I'm done with my lady drama."

Cody nodded. "Good. I just found out communications are down all the way through the base. I'm going to double-check at Red Base, but I can't even get a radio signal to come through clearly."

"That's a dilemma," Washington said.

"Yeah- especially since there's the chance Command will send down more of my unit. If they find you here and find out I didn't report you, this could all go to shit pretty fast."

"Well, let's just hope that doesn't happen," Washington said. "Go check Red Base, and I'll wake Caboose and Carolina. When you get back, the search party for Doc will start, and Tucker can you show the super-computer down in the caves."

"The what?"

"Super-computer. Our old Command was an AI who ran through it."

Silence paused the conversation, and then Cody's blood pressure skyrocketed. "You have a _super-computer_ in the canyon and _didn't think that important information_ when I told you there's _malicious computer activity!?"_

Washington didn't move, and had the good fortune of his visor hiding his face. "I… I'm gonna go wake Caboose."

" _Ugh!"_

Cody headed out of Blue Base and crossed the canyon at a jog, fuming all the while. A fucking _super-computer_ and it wasn't considered vital information. Who the fuck were these guys to not realize how pertinent to Cody's mission that could be? Cody tried to steady her breathing, or at least channel her frustration into her jog. Frustration- that's what it was. But it materialized as her referring to Blue Team only as _fucking dickwads_ the whole way across the canyon. Simmons, too- if he's so good at computers, shouldn't he have known to mention that? Cody sighed and slowed to a walk, nearing Red Base. She could see the orange guy on the roof with the pink guy, the orange guy eating oreos and very obviously ignoring whatever the pink guy said.

"Hey! It's the new girl!" The pink guy- Donut- called out.

"Hey, stop right there!"

Cody continued walking. "Why are you even guarding the base? Isn't everyone in this canyon friends anyway? Seems pretty useless!"

"Sarge's orders," the orange one said with a sigh. "What do you want?"

"I need to check your computers and radios!"

"Computers?" Grif turned to Donut. "Do we even have a computer?"

"Sarge has that basement," Donut said. "She could try there."

Cody nodded. "Thanks, I'll do that."

"Hey!"

"What?"

"Don't wake Sarge!"

Cody chuckled at the orange guy's slight desperation. "I'll try not to. If Sarge isn't awake, who gave you the order to come out here?"

"He did. Last night."

"That's more foresight than I'd give any of you credit for," Cody noted.

"They're not so good at hindsight, either," Donut added, and Cody grinned inside her helmet.

"I'd believe that."

She headed into the base and heard the distant snores of Sarge and Simmons, Simmons' more like a whistle and Sarge's more like an angry bear. Cody looked around the base, trying to find this 'basement' they mentioned. Based on her limited knowledge of Sarge, Cody felt she had reason to assume any computer in the basement would be either unused or horribly disfigured. She could _just_ imagine Sarge telling Simmons to do something ridiculous and idiotic, like copy and paste the same folder onto the desktop fifty times. _Just make sure it's gonna stick, Simmons! Ain't nothin' gonna stop me now!_ Probably a folder containing clip-art of a bazooka, or a hand-grenade, or something else he'd think could be 3D-printed.

As it turned out, Red Base was just like Blue Base- a carbon copy with a few stylistic differences based on inhabitants, such as Tucker's poster of a helmeted pin-up girl, or Grif's badly hidden cardboard box of junk food. Thus, she found the basement door without too much trouble, and descended onto a metal step.

After a minute of feeling around the wall, Cody found the switch and flipped it, so that lights clicked on across the gargantuan basement. Cody headed down the stairs, finding a number of surprising technologies- holographic imagery, a robot-building kit, the prototypes of untested weapons. Not bad, all things considered. Then, tucked into a corner, she found another large computer like the one at Blue Base, not quite a super-computer but a sizable piece of machinery.

Dust padded the keys and it took a several minutes and a bit of finger-mashing to get the damn thing to turn on, and it only further proved her theory. This one was connected to an ethernet cable and still didn't hold ability to communicate to the outside world. Not a single bar, nothing. She sighed and turned off the poor computer. It took just as long to shut off as it did to start up, and its dim light still glowed in one corner after she turned off the basement lights and left.

"Halt! Who goes!"

Cody was stopped as soon as she exited the door, a shotgun aimed- slightly left of her. Simmons, behind his commanding officer, sighed. "Sarge, it's just the new girl. Lieutenant Cody. She got here yesterday."

"And what's she doin' in our base?" Sarge demanded. "Stayed with the Blues last night, did she? And now she thinks she can just mosey on over here whenever her twinkly pink toes feel like it! Well, I'll be damned if-"

"I just needed to check your computer," Cody said. "Signal's out across the whole canyon. No connection to anything."

"What the blazes!"

Simmons, downing a mug of hot tea, asked, "No connection? Not even the radios?"

Cody turned to Simmons, and remembered a flash of her previous anger that morning. "No, and probably not the _super-computer none of you mentioned to me_ either."

"Oh… Right, that," Simmons said. "We just kind of figured it was kaput after that journalist removed the AI."

Cody heaved out a breath. "It's still a computer even after the program living in it is gone! If anything, it's more available to whoever's making use of it!"

"A valid point," Simmons said, draining his mug. "So, are you going to check it out?"

"Am I going to-? _Of course I'm going to check it out."_ Cody repressed the next sigh of frustration as it built. "I'm leading a search party into the caves for Doc this morning, and Tucker's going to lead me to the super-computer while we're down there."

Simmons snorted. "Good luck."

"A rescue mission, is it?" Sarge said. "Watch your back that they don't sneak up behind ya, and stab ya right in the kidney!"

"Yeah, I'll be sure to keep an eye out for that."

"Be lucky they don't poke your eye out!"

Cody nodded. "Alright, Sarge."

She made for the door, and then heard Simmons: "Wait- Doc is missing?"

Cody turned at the door. "Yeah. It's kind of important to me that I find him. I managed to rope up some of Blue Team for the mission, since Tucker mentioned Doc's apparently been through all kinds of hell and no one ever helped."

Silence briefly followed her words, broken by Sarge. "Simmons? Go get Grif."

 **~O~**

"So, yeah, this is the entrance to our secret cave system. My kid grew up here."

Cody looked over at Tucker. "Your kid?"

"Yeah, he kinda had an alien baby," Caboose said. "It's a long story. There was this alien, and he was trying to save his people, and Tucker was part of a prophecy, and-"

"Yeah, okay, no need to recount the tale of Junior's conception," Tucker said. "All she needs is to know is I have a son, his name is Junior, and he kicks ass at basketball. I get a picture now and then."

Cody was still surprised. "Where is he? With his mom?"

"Oh, um… He doesn't have a mom. But he lives with the aliens. Let's move on!"

Cody had managed to get quite the rescue party: Agent Carolina, Tucker, Caboose, Grif, and Simmons. If the six of them couldn't enter the caves, find Doc, and investigate the super-computer, then… She'd have to come back with Washington, maybe. Either way, it was a first mission, and it needed to be a success, because she really didn't see these guys' motivation lasting that long.

They started into the cave through the secret entrance Tucker had revealed, hidden partially behind a boulder. Cody was surprised to see Tucker move the rock- she hadn't pegged him as being that strong, but now she remembered the calves on him when he'd been in just shorts at the base the night before.

Not far into the tunnel, they reached a platform, and Carolina turned to Cody.

"So- these tunnels are pretty big. I gave it some thought on the way in here, and I think the best plan is to split up."

Simmons snorted. "When is that ever a good plan? Don't you guys remember when I was _kidnapped?"_

"Yeah, but Junior made friends with the cave-dwellers, remember? And they moved out." Tucker said. "It should be fine."

Cody intercepted. "Anyway. Carolina, what was your plan, aside from just splitting up?"

"I'll take Grif and Simmons," she said. "They work better together, and that way Simmons can analyze anything weird we find, if there are more computers. You can take Tucker and Caboose- Tucker's… Actually not bad at combat, and Caboose is freakishly strong and good with AI. Tucker can lead you to the super-computer while I search for Doc. Sound good?"

Cody nodded. "Sounds great. Everyone else agree?"

The four boys glanced at each other, mostly shrugging, which led to a general consensus of, "Yeah, okay."

"If we die, it's not my fault," Simmons said.

"Can we keep it at a casual pace?" Grif asked. Carolina glanced at Cody.

"You're coming out with the more active team."

Cody laughed lightly. "I can sense that."

"Alright, let's get moving."

Carolina set off in one direction with Grif and Simmons, disappearing into the cave. Tucker turned to Cody. "So- ready to go fuck some shit up?"

"Yeah, I just- I just wanna see the computer."

"Are there going to be pirates?"

"Wha- yeah. Yeah, Caboose. Pirates."


	3. Chapter Three

When Cody pictured a cave system, she pictured something like a map detailing the winding passages of a few interconnected tunnels. Maybe a small chance of getting turned around for the unconditioned mind, a bit of claustrophobia for the sensitive, a clump of lichen or bones here and there. What she _didn't_ picture was an expansive labyrinth of caverns detailed with cemented walkways and evidence of an older outpost.

"And none of you thought it suspicious that there's a whole fucking outpost down here?" she asked after a while.

"Yeah, no," Tucker said. "We figured they were abandoned. Then they had the aliens, and that was weird, but, y'know, we got through it."

Cody was learning more and more it was just… Better not to question it.

She recognized the architecture; this was made maybe a few years before Master Chief took out the Covenant. Not by aliens- perhaps Blood Gulch _had_ been a real outpost once. She still didn't know the background of Church and his relation to how the simulation troopers became so much more, but she knew a lot of that history involved Blood Gulch. Combining the recent activity and the finding of these tunnels, Cody wondered exactly how much hidden history was contained in the 'useless' box canyon.

Mentally, she kept track of the endless twists and turns as Tucker led her deeper into the caverns. Caboose filled the airy passages with chatter, telling Cody numerous things she took with a grain of salt. Caboose was generous with both opinions and embellishments. From the moment he claimed Sarge was the one with the pirate accent, Cody stopped paying him as much mind. She still listened, enjoying his creative take on the events of the canyon, but she didn't believe all of it. An acute awareness crept over her as they went on that Tucker seemed wary of how Cody treated Caboose; she kept her manner polite and civil, something she didn't do with everyone, based on Tucker's protective nature. If a Freelancer agent said Tucker wasn't bad at combat, then he wasn't someone Cody wanted to make an enemy of.

"Almost there," Tucker said after a while.

"This is where it gets fun," Caboose said. "Yeah, I got into some pretty intense situations down here. There was this one time…"

Caboose rambled on and Cody let him, and then paused. "Wait- there was an _evil AI_ that inhabited a _dead body_ down here?"

"Yeah, but we just kinda left the body buried again afterward," Caboose said. "I- I think we took his helmet off..? And there was a green alien, he was really mean, but that's okay. We all have bad days."

"No, but," Cody sighed. "An AI can revive a dead body?"

"Oh, yeah, Church did that," Caboose said.

"Caboose," Tucker muttered, a note of warning.

"Church was our friend," Caboose said. "He was really nice. He yelled a lot, but he was really nice."

Cody tried to piece this together. "But… He was an AI?"

"First he was a ghost," Caboose said. "Well, first- first he was a person, but then he was a ghost, and then we found out he was an AI. But to us, he was Church."

"But he was an AI."

"Can we just fucking move on?" Tucker snapped. "Different topic, Caboose. Talk about the aliens some more."

"Should I tell her about Junior?"

Tucker groaned. "I hate Blue Team sometimes. Anyway, there it is."

The supercomputer rose further along the walkway they were on. All the monitors were off, and the hardware appeared untouched. Cody picked up the pace, trotting down to it, and found the power button. The computer buzzed to life, shining light in the cavern, as Tucker and Caboose caught up. Cody turned to them.

"Tucker, take my left. Caboose, the right. Keep an eye out- let me know if you see _anything_ out of the ordinary."

The screen flashed, start-up almost complete, as Caboose said, "What, like, like a black man?"

"Caboose!"

"No, I- I realize how that sounded. Like a man in black?"

"Two very different things, Caboose," Tucker said.

Then it clicked. Cody withdrew her M7 and aimed it back the way they'd come. Past Caboose, she saw someone in black armor- not Washington's- standing at the head of the walkway.

"I knew, eventually, someone would come back to these caves."

"Who the fuck are you!?" Tucker shouted, turning around as well. Cody aimed her submachine gun, and the newcomer chuckled.

"That's none of your concern, is it?" The man in black asked. "You didn't come here for a _name._ You came here to investigate the tunnels."

Cody stepped forward so that she was shoulder to shoulder with Caboose. "Be that as it may, your presence here makes you part of that investigation. Who are you? What's your business in the tunnels?"

"I don't recognize you from the canyon," he said. "Their Command is dead, so you can't be a new recruit."

"I'm Lieutenant Cody," she said. "There- that's my name, now, to make it fair, what's yours?"

"You really want to know?"

"Need to."

"Check the computer."

Cody spared a glance- to see the screen flashing red, a silent _WARNING: SELF DESTRUCT IMPENDING IN 3… 2…_

"Get down!"

Cody pushed Caboose out of the way, as he was closest, and threw herself down next to him. She distantly heard Tucker's, "Oh, fuck!"

And then-

 _WA-POW!_

A heavy weight hit Cody as flame fanned out, hot enough to be felt through the exo-suit. Shrapnel fell and the caves shook. Cody looked up, the flames washing up and away, to see the man in black disappearing down a tunnel. Cody glanced around, surmising in a second that the heavy weight had been Tucker and that Caboose lay on her other side. No damages or injuries, but the cave systems trembled around them, bits of rock falling.

"Everyone alright?" Cody asked sharply.

"Good!"

"All clear!"

"After him!"

She jumped up and sprinted in the direction the man in black had gone- to find a dead end. Frustration flooded through her; how had he disappeared that fast!? The tunnels shook still more, and she turned to Caboose and Tucker.

"We have to get out- what's the fastest way?"

"Follow me," Tucker said, and they took off at a run. Cody flipped on her radio, hoping to hear anything- but it was still all static. _Damn._ She turned it back off and continued to run after Tucker. The tunnel where the super-computer had been collapsed, rocks falling hard as they passed back by it. Tucker led them back along the twists and turns Cody had memorized on the way down; halfway back, Cody spotted three figures, turquoise, maroon, and orange, hurrying along a wobbling catwalk. Cody skidded to a stop.

"Carolina!" She called. "You've got to get down!"

"Working on it!" came the reply.

Cody delved into her belt pocket and withdrew the grappling hook, throwing it hard. Tucker and Caboose had stopped a few meters ahead.

"Cody, what are you doing? We have to go!"

"I'm saving your friends!" Cody said, as the grappling hook caught on the catwalk. She raised her voice, "Come down!"

Simmons went first, then Grif. Tucker helped Cody hold the rope steady as they came down. Then it was Carolina's turn. The turquoise Freelancer grabbed hold of the rope and started down, as the catwalk shook and groaned.

"Come on, Carolina, hurry!" Cody shouted. "It's falling!"

Sure enough, the closer end of the catwalk had unlatched from its ceiling hooks and begun to waver. Carolina sped down the rope like a spider, but the catwalk was falling fast.

"She's not going to make it to the ground," Cody muttered, and searched for a possible solution. The catwalk was fifty feet overhead, Carolina still had twenty-five feet to the ground- survivable, but they needed her able to keep moving. Simmons was tallest- that made him the most useful.

"Simmons, hold still."

"What-!?"

Cody grabbed onto Simmons and scaled up him, thankful, for once, for her natural petiteness. She stood on his shoulders. "Grab my ankles!"

He followed her command, still seeming nervous and shaky, and Cody looked up. Carolina had downed another eight feet. With Simmons' and Cody's combined heights, that left… Six feet between them. Cody faced Carolina.

"Carolina- forget the rope, jump and aim for me!"

Carolina paused, looking at her. "I'll crush you!"

"I'm sturdy! Just fucking jump!"

It didn't take any more convincing than that. Carolina parted from the grappling hook's rope and collided directly into Cody, sending the whole tower toppling to the ground. Cody rolled to her feet and Carolina did the same; Simmons, winded, clambered slowly up.

"Alright- let's go!"

The catwalk crashed with a resounding _bang_ just behind them as they took off again. The shaking of the caves eased, but rocks big enough to crush a man's head continued to fall from the ceiling periodically as they raced for freedom. Adrenaline ran high and Cody fought it down. She kept her focus on moving one foot and then the other, keeping up with Tucker, and making sure Grif didn't fall too far behind.

"Fuck!"

As if the thought had cursed him, Cody turned around to see Grif caught with his leg under a fallen boulder. Cody ran back, narrowly dodging another boulder as it crashed down beside her.

"Grif!" Simmons shouted, meeting Cody at the orange trooper's side. The others ran up as well, and Tucker and Caboose made quick work of rolling the boulder away, to Grif's extreme pain.

"We have to keep moving," Cody said.

"Okay!" Caboose said, throwing the heavier Grif over his shoulder and taking back off along the caves.

"Ridiculously strong," Carolina said, as she'd noted earlier that morning, and they were on the move again.

The caves receded to a faltering tremble as they neared the exit, daylight streaming into the dusty cavern. Boulders dotted the final feet of cave, and then they were finally out of that dark pit. Cody breathed a sigh of relief.

"Take him straight to Red Base," Tucker said to Caboose, and Grif, Simmons, and Caboose headed off. Cody stood for a minute, catching her breath, and Carolina turned to her.

"Thanks for that, back there," Carolina said. "I've never seen anything so… Quickly done but brave. I'd thought those were just cheerleader moves, but you saved my life."

"I had a cheerleader in my platoon at basic," Cody said. "She taught us the maneuver and we used it in an obstacle course. I'm glad it came in handy."

Carolina chuckled. "Yeah, me, too. So- what happened?"

Cody began to explain as they made the return to Blue Base. Carolina didn't like the sound of the man in black.

"It wasn't Tex," Tucker assured her. "The voice was all wrong."

"Hmm."

Cody glanced between them. "Would it be so bad if it was Tex? She lived here a while, didn't she?"

Carolina stiffened, and Tucker said, "It wouldn't be so bad, but, Tex and Carolina didn't exactly get along."

Cody nodded. "Got it."

"Hey, you're back! How'd it go?"

It was Washington. He glanced over them. "Where's Caboose?"

"At Red Base," Tucker said. "A boulder fell on Grif, so Caboose carried him back."

Washington snorted. "Grif has _really_ got to get in shape."

Cody gaped. "He just lost a leg!"

"Half of Red Team is cyborg at this point," Washington said. "They get hurt, Sarge fixes them up with robot parts. Simmons 2.0 seems fine, can't see why Sarge wouldn't do the same for Grif."

"Maybe because he hates Grif," Tucker suggested. "Man, this is _really_ going to make Caboose think Red Team is pirates, if Grif gets a peg leg or some shit."

Cody nodded. "Okay- all that is… Dandy, or whatever the fuck, but we have more pressing matters."

"Right," Carolina said. "What do we do now?"

Cody sighed. "A hell of a question."


	4. Chapter Four

Cody spent the afternoon on the roof.

Between pacing and fiddling hopelessly with the computer, she managed to waste away an entire afternoon without an ounce of productivity. Her brain ached by the end of it. So many things wrong with this whole situation- the Reds and Blues showing up, her ship crashing, Doc disappearing without a trace, the morning in the caves- and not a damn thing she could do about it. She couldn't even report to Command- unless… Unless she got back to her ship.

She toyed with the possibility between attempting to hack her computer into any other network, beyond hope that she'd be successful. She knew a lot about computers, and if this one didn't pick up any external networks, it was because there weren't any- or the only other one was extremely well hidden.

And then there was the actuality of the Reds and Blues to deal with; she had glimpsed the news reports of their multitude of deeds, good and bad, and heard about them being framed by the Blues and Reds, and so on. The people behind the news articles, however, weren't at all what she expected. Even the freelancers seemed a bit more _misfit_ than _conditioned super-soldier._ To be fair, Lieutenant Cody wasn't the best in her unit, either, and her rank was only a product of schooling, but the renoun of Project Freelancer had left her some impression of uniform capability. The truth was… Disappointing, to say the least.

In all Cody's field training and previous missions, the next step had always been evident. Rain started pouring down in sheets? Reach high ground and build a shelter. Hostile aliens on the horizon? Send a scout to report their numbers and then strategize how to best take them out. Ship taken captive by space pirates? Activate the hidden emergency signal to alert Command and play nice until a rescue arrived. But this- stranded in a canyon, no signal to the outside world, limited supplies, a missing medic, and an unknown terrorist- this was beyond Cody's prior experience. And Cody lacked the luck of the others; any time she had tried to wing anything it had ended in horrible, soul-crushing failure.

As dusk, identical to the previous day's, settled over the canyon once more, Cody descended back into the base. Seeing the others in their relaxed state- mostly in PT clothes, which they slept in- Cody wished she could be so relaxed. She headed back into the room where the other two girls stayed and changed as well; no need to wear the clunky suit while relaxing.

In shorts and a tank-top, Cody headed back into the main room of the base. Washington silently handed her an MRE; some badly done action movie was playing on a screen beyond the arrangement of folding chairs. Cody started to eat, sitting cross-legged, as the movie progressed to a sequence of one-liners.

"So why does it matter so much to you to find Doc, anyway?"

Cody looked up at the question, posed by Tucker. "That's personal."

"Who is he to you?"

"Again: Personal."

"Boyfriend?"

Cody snorted. "No. I don't think I'm his type."

"You could be my type."

Cody rolled her eyes. "A lamp-post with tits and an ass would be your type, Tucker. If I had to guess."

"There's one more thing it would need," Carolina noted, making Cody laugh.

"I'm going to go bake cookies," Caboose said abruptly, seeming put-off by the topic, and headed for the kitchen.

Cody's mind flashed back to the bricks he'd made the previous night, and she jumped up. "I'll help."

It served a double purpose- no more personal questions from Tucker, and no more circular bricks being produced. Cody helped Caboose through the process, and, while her own baking skills were mostly described as "survivable," the cookies they made were almost decent. The color was right, anyway, and they weren't burnt. Cody and Caboose sat down and tested a couple of the cookies, and the flavor wasn't quite _Grandma's Homemade Chocolate Chip Delights,_ but it was edible.

The night waned on; most of Blue Team dropped off to bed. Cody attempted to follow suit, but her mind wouldn't let her. Images of the morning kept flashing behind her eyes- the boulder falling on Grif, Carolina's almost-fall, the super-computer's explosion. Cody had seen her fair share of shit, but that didn't make it any easier when night fell and she was alone with new thoughts. Trauma was trauma, and that never changed.

Sleeplessness getting the best of her, Cody rose and tip-toed out of the bunk, heading for the roof. She climbed the ramp and stood up there. For a moment, she considered fiddling with the computer again, but decided she had enough stress.

Wind howled, as it had the night before, down through Blood Gulch, shrieking high-pitched against the side of the base. Stars flickered in and out of view behind distant wisps of cloud, different stars than Cody was used to. She missed Earth's sky; she missed the familiar constellations that had twinkled through her childhood, luring her to the stars and the UNSC. Ah, but there was Orion- at least she could still see that one. She wondered if any alien races had a different name for the constellations she'd grown up with.

"I got it: he's your brother."

Startled, Cody jumped around, to see Tucker walking out of the base. His cerulean eyes gleamed in the moonlight that flashed along his bold cheekbones and silvered his dark skin. Cody sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, sure," she said. "That's why we have different last names."

He meandered over to her, hands on his hips. "You could be married to someone."

"Doc isn't my brother," Cody said, and then added, "And I'm not married."

"Oh, so she _is_ single," Tucker said, grinning. Cody rolled her eyes again, looking out into the night.

"Did you just come up here to harass me?"

"Not just to harass you. I also wanted to know what you were doing."

Cody pointed at the sky. "Sky."

"Yeah, okay, I see it."

"I couldn't sleep, so I'm looking at the sky. It's relaxing. Or- it was."

She sent him a pointed look, which didn't affect him in the least. Tucker looked up, and then a grin split across his face and he pointed. "Look- Orion!"

It was the first time Cody felt some sort of attachment to one of the simulation troopers. Sure, she liked the Freelancers well enough, and Simmons had his quirks, but Cody had met tons of people and didn't make it a habit to get attached. But the smile Tucker turned to her favorite constellation shifted something in her mind. She'd felt the seeds planted earlier, while baking mediocre cookies with Caboose, but she had pretended nothing changed. However, stars were her weakness- Tucker identifying her favorite constellation meant she couldn't dislike him the same way.

She smiled lightly, looking up. "Yeah- one of few constellations you can see from Earth and Blood Gulch."

He lowered his pointing arm, folding his arms in front of his chest. "Are there any others?"

Cody's eyes scanned the endless dome of stars, and then she spotted one. "Oh- there's Cassiopeia, that little cluster. And there's Scorpio, the Scorpion. Unfortunately, you can't see the Dippers from here."

"Fuck," Tucker muttered. "I haven't seen the Dippers in… Fucking years. Over a decade, probably."

"I miss Earth's night sky," Cody said.

Silence, filled by the wind, howled between them, and then Tucker said, "Yeah- yeah, me, too."

 **~O~**

Cody finally fell asleep late that night; talking to Tucker about stars helped, and they stayed up there a while, but when she finally laid down her thoughts came back. She fell asleep to a flickering montage of various traumatic events, and her mind wondering what else might have happened to the inhabitants of Blood Gulch.

Come morning, Cody woke early, as usual. Sleep deprivation weighed beneath her eyes, but she didn't want any more dreaming. She found Washington doing his usual morning PT, joined this time by Kaikaina, who executed a rather impressive- if revealing- form of yoga. Cody, rather petite, felt a twinge of envy for Kaikaina's shapely form; the girl had some impressive hips that Cody would never hope to imitate. As she fixed her coffee, Cody reflected she was glad Kaikaina took pride in her blessed body.

Cody sat down in a chair and slowly sipped her coffee while nibbling at one of last night's cookies. There had to be something they could do… But they had no flying ability to scout nearby, and it was obvious the caves were dangerous to investigate. Grif's leg had been crushed, but it could have been much worse. If their enemy had no fear of collapsing the caves, then he must have an outside base…

Cody racked her brain for anything, _anything,_ she might have seen the during the walk to Blood Gulch, or the crash-landing. Aside from another useless box canyon, there hadn't been much. But how was the assailant getting in and out of the canyon through the caves? There had to be an exit somewhere-

The other box canyon.

It hit Cody like a bag of bricks, how obvious it should have been. The only nearby geographic feature low enough to connect to the caves would be the other box canyon. They could reach that without going through the caves- that meant Cody could investigate without putting more lives at unnecessary risk. Her mind flashed back to when she'd been lowering herself into the canyon via grappling hook and someone blew up the cliff-face, but there had to be another way into a canyon. Carolina might know- or Washington.

"Hey, Washington," Cody said, sitting up, considerably brightened.

He paused between switching to crunches. "Yeah?"

"Aside from rappelling, what's the best way to go down a cliff-face?"

He paused for a moment, thinking and scratching his chin, where scruff had formed overnight. "Um… Jet-pack. Definitely jet-pack."

"Something we could do."

" _Oh."_ He paused longer this time, but it was Kaikaina who broke the thought pattern.

"You could always just use parachutes," Kaikaina said, one foot propped against the wall as she executed an upside-down split. "Or some rag-tag version of them."

"I don't want to say she's right, but she's right," Washington conceded. Cody sighed.

"Okay- who would be best to test that theory?"

Washington considered, and then sighed. "Probably… Caboose. Or Donut- Donut just… Never dies. I shot him once and he's fine."

"You- _what!?"_

"Long story."

"I'm so tired of hearing that." Cody sighed. "Okay- so, we'll do a practice run with Caboose, and then a second trial with Donut if Caboose's works. What materials do we have to make a parachute?"

"Hmm…"

Kaikaina, coming to the rescue again: "There's always the tarp we got for Sheila."

"Who's Sheila?"

"Our tank. She kind of… Doesn't live here anymore. We blew her up in an intentional accident."

Cody just stared, and then threw up her hands. "I'm done asking questions, I don't want to know. I just need to know the location of the tarp."

"That sounds like a question to me," Kaikaina said.

"It's in the basement," Washington said, and Cody thanked him before heading off.

 _Sheila the tank. Who got blown up. In an intentional accident. So she doesn't live here anymore. What is wrong with these people!?_

It occurred to Cody as she set to work, using a length of cord, her knife, and the tarp, that parachutes would get them into the canyon, but the way out would be harder to guarantee. She could set the grappling hook to good use. Maybe there was something on her ship… She tried to remember what supplies had been stashed away, but nothing came to mind. If the ship proved otherwise useless, she at least knew there was food and water on-board, if they ran out of supplies here before Command caught onto the problem.

So it was decided, Cody thought, as she finished one parachute: they would test the parachutes in Blood Gulch, go to her ship to check for any other useful supplies, and then investigate the nearby box canyon, that might not be as useless as she thought.


	5. Chapter Five

"Alright, Caboose- now!"

The wind currents were just right, on a cloudless afternoon in Blood Gulch, to carry a parachuting trooper to the ground without too much trouble. Beneath the cliff path, Cody watched carefully; Tucker and Washington stood further out, ready to run and catch Caboose should anything go wrong.

The blue-clad simulation trooper jumped.

If Cody's estimations were correct, the tarp material's square-shaped knit should replicate the design of parachute fabric. The arcing design she'd employed should allow the stretch of tarp to bolster and billow up. She wasn't too worried about the cords- those were military-grade and secure enough to put an ache in Caboose's side by the time he landed.

"Here's hoping he's sturdy," Cody muttered.

The wind caught- relief sagged Cody's shoulders as the tarp fluttered up and out. She didn't have the necessary tools to make the usual parachute deployment mechanism, so the use of the parachutes would be a bit more like gliding and hoping the wind caught. The thought made her remember the howling winds that flurried through the canyon each night- if the other box canyon held them as well, then perhaps the parachuting part of the mission would be better for nightfall.

Caboose floated down, gripping the cords and exclaiming cheerfully.

"I wish Freckles could be here for this!" he said as he hit the ground. Tucker and Washington made their way over as Cody untied the cords.

"What _is_ Freckles?" Cody asked, already regretting it.

"Freckles is my friend," Caboose said.

"He started out as a Mantis," Washington said. "Caboose found it on Chorus and somehow convinced it he was its master. Came in handy a few times, and we used the AI from Freckles to develop a _safer_ form after the original bot was destroyed."

"How was it- nevermind. So, Freckles is an AI? Like Church was an AI?"

"Not quite," Washington said. "Church was far more advanced than Freckles. Church came across as human, and no one knew he was an AI for a long time."

Cody nodded. "Got it. So… Caboose wishes the AI from a war machine could have seen him jump off a cliff?"

"Freckles would have loved it," Caboose said.

"His first friend here was a tank," Tucker added. Cody sighed.

"Okay. Just gonna accept that. Where do you think Donut would be?"

A pointless question- all the blue guys said Red Base, and when Cody got there and asked, she found out Donut was tending a garden back behind the base. Cody announced herself and approached.

"Oh, hey, you! I was just thinking about opening a produce market," Donut said. "We could use some new aesthetics out here."

"No argument there," Cody said. "But I actually came to ask a favor, and it might impede with your gardening."

Donut, who had been attempting to weed a patch of soil using a hoe, tossed down the hoe. "I'll just drop this hoe, then. What is it you need?"

Cody tried to think of how best to approach the question. "As you know, Doc is missing- and I have a theory that the caves under the canyon connect to another canyon nearby. But we can't go through the caves, because of what happened to Grif- how is he, by the way?"

"Grif? Oh, he's just fine," Donut said. "He was up all night moaning, but I think he's okay."

"Oh. Well. Anyway, since we can't go in through the caves, and any form of rappelling seemed like a bad idea after my introduction to the canyon, we made a prototype of a parachute-"

"Ah, I see." Donut nodded. "And you need _my_ stylistic tastes to make it more pleasing to the eye!"

"Er, no." Cody coughed lightly. "We need you to help us test it."

Donut paused. "Why me?"

"Well, Caboose went first, and he was fine. And Washington said you have the uncanny ability to survive… Everything. I mean, shit, you were shot in the fucking chest and you're a-oh-kay."

Donut nodded. "You know, I heard Simmons talking about how the rescue mission for Doc was due to the teams' complete neglect of him, and this was how they were making up for it. You might not know, but I've been there target dummy, too. And I'm tired of being penetrated and just forgotten!"

Cody nodded, clearing her throat roughly to keep from immediately replying. "I… See. Perhaps someone else, then."

Donut sighed emphatically. "I'll do it, but if I get hurt, I want medical treatment- not just to be left in a hole!"

Cody nodded again. "Will see to it that it happens. I have first aid training; I'll do the best I can."

"Then let's do this thing!"

The Donut trial went well; that proved twice now that the parachute didn't drop anyone on their ass or cause serious injuries. With that complete, Cody employed the help of Donut, Simmons, and Washington, as they seemed to have the most attention to detail, to amass a higher supply of parachutes. The day was spent in Blue Base's basement, as the winds outside ceased and the canyon filled with unbearable humidity. Caboose worked on Freckles, Tucker spent the afternoon under a rock (another of those things Cody didn't want to question), and Carolina and Kaikaina deviated between Carolina leading Kaikaina in PT and the two coming down to the basement to criticize Simmons and Washington. (This caused great embarrassment on Simmons' part, as he seemed completely oblivious around the charismatic and sensuous Kaikaina.)

At sunset, they had a total of seven parachutes, which returned them to the cliffs. Caboose and Donut tested each, and then Cody joined in and tested a few while Washington did the same. Only one failed, dropping Caboose ten feet- he didn't seem affected, thankfully. Cody found the malfunction, a thin slit in the fabric, and set back to the basement once test-runs were done and sewed it up. As dusk faded to night, they tested the last parachute, and it worked this time. Caboose landed safely, and Cody jumped as well to test it, the night winds whisking her to the opposite side of the canyon. She collected her materials and met Caboose back at Blue Base, and the two parted ways to get comfortable.

As Cody stashed the parachutes in a neat pile in the basement, folding them flag-style, Tucker came down, flipped around a chair so it faced away from her, and sat straddling it. "I got it: he's your uncle."

"Why does he have to be a family relation just because he's not my boyfriend?" Cody asked. "There is such a thing as friends, you know."

Tucker shrugged. "I don't really have a lot of female friends."

"What about Carolina?"

"I don't really think of her as female."

Cody rolled her eyes, grinning as she folded the fourth parachute. "Don't let her hear you say that."

"Say what? I didn't say shit."

"Right."

"So he's not your uncle?"

Cody smiled lightly. "No."

"Cousin?"

"Nope."

"Brother?"

"No again."

"Childhood best friend."

"Nope."

"Childhood neighbor?"

"What if you just, stopped guessing?" Cody suggested, folding the sixth parachute into a neat triangle with the cords tucked into its center.

"Who the fuck is he?" Tucker paused as Cody started on the last parachute. "...Friends with benefits?"

Cody kicked Tucker's chair, causing it to rock backward, and rolled her eyes again. "Yeah, Tucker. Not my boyfriend because I'm not his type, but totally his fuck-buddy. Glad you figured it out."

"I fucking knew it."

"You're such an idiot sometimes."

"Sometimes? That almost sounds like a compliment."

Cody sighed and tossed the last parachute into the pile. "Sure. Take it as a compliment. I insulted you, but whatever."

"You fold those really fast," Tucker said, and Cody _almost_ responded before he could add, "You must be really good with your hands. I wonder what else they could do."

She turned to him. "Punch you. Square in the face. That's what else they can do."

He held up his hands in surrender. "I was just thinking out loud, no need for threats."

Cody sighed, heading for the stairs. "Goodnight, Tucker."

He sing-songed after her, "Goodnight!"

 **~O~**

Sleep-deprivation allowed Cody to finally rest for a few hours, and when she woke faint sunlight streamed through the base. It was both relieving and worrying- her head felt clearer than it had in days, but she had lost time due to sleep, and she didn't have many minutes to spare. She had only really been here a couple of days, but the lack of communication with Command could easily result in problems. Cody went immediately for breakfast, downed an MRE in a few short minutes, and then donned her exo-suit and headed out. She found Blue Team doing something similar to a basic PT- Washington and Tucker were performing exercises, Caboose followed along slightly off-tempo, Carolina ran circles around them with added burpees, and Kaikaina… Cody wasn't quite sure _what_ Kaikaina was doing, but it involved a lot of flexibility and leg muscle.

"Morning, sleeping beauty," Tucker called as Cody approached. "Decide to join us?"

"Um, no," Cody said. "I'm on a mission."

"You haven't done PT since you got here," Carolina said, lapping around behind her. "It might do you some good."

"I did it between failing at fixing the computer on the roof," Cody said, "And while Caboose was jumping off the cliff. I find time- I just don't follow a real routine. _Anyway._ We're short on time; how long will your PT take?"

Washington answered for them, "We're almost done with the exercises, and then it's three laps around the canyon. Maybe ten or twenty minutes, depending on how much Tucker and Carolina argue about pace."

Cody nodded. "Doable. If I pack up the parachutes and some supply bags, can we be ready to go within the hour?"

"Where are we going?"

"We discussed this yesterday," Cody said. "We got the parachutes ready so we can head down into the _other_ box canyon."

"What box canyon?"

Cody grimaced behind her visor, and took a few deep breaths. "There's another box canyon a few miles west of Blood Gulch, across some hills-"

"Aw, man," Tucker said.

"-And my theory is that the caves in this canyon connect to the caves in that one, hence the man in black's inexplicable escape. So we're parachuting into the other box canyon so we can find out."

"Why not just rappel?" Tucker asked. "Why parachute?"

"I don't know, Tucker, maybe because even _you_ guys thought of blowing up the rappel rope's tie, and I don't want to chance falling to my death," Cody deadpanned. Tucker shrugged.

"Makes sense."

Cody turned to Washington. "Anyway. Does that work for you? We leave within the hour?"

"Works for us, but check with Red Base," Washington said. "They might want to come along."

Cody nodded. "Alright. Finish your PT and get cleaned up; be ready to go at half-noon."

"When is that?" Tucker asked.

Cody looked up at the sky and pointed. "See the big shiny thing? When it's halfway to the middle of the big blue thing. Got it?"

"Got it," Washington said. "Tucker, if you're able to talk, you aren't working hard enough. We'll double the time on burpees."

"Fuck."

Cody left them to reached Red Base to find Red Team no more ready or capable of immediate leave.

"Lopez! Which o' these do I use now?"

A brown helmet sat on the ground, and Cody jolted as it replied, "Nunca importa lo que digo."

Simmons passed Sarge, who hunched down next to an abused warthog, a wrench, and Sarge set to work. He then spotted Cody. "Oh! Hello."

"Hi, Simmons," Cody said. "Who's- what is-?"

She couldn't articulate, but thankfully, Sarge caught on to her unspoken question. He gestured to the head on the ground. "Meet Lopez, our robot."

Cody nodded once. "Where's his body?"

"In a small room on Earth."

"How did-"

"Long story," Simmons interjected. "And he can only speak Spanish, so don't worry about asking him too many questions."

Cody sighed. She turned to the beheaded robot. "Hola. Mi llamo Cody. Yo solo hablo un poco de español."

"Mi llamo Lopez," the robot head said. "Todos son perras."

"Oh, I got that last word!" Cody said, and then remembered what it meant and grinned. She turned to Simmons. "Your robot doesn't like you much, does he?"

"He has no reason to," Simmons said.

"Lopez is a loyal soldier!" Sarge interjected. "A true warrior! He's made more sacrifices for this war than any of ya!"

"I can see that," Cody said.

"Finally! Some recognition! His body's gone, that's a damn sacrifice!"

"You should see me and Grif," Simmons muttered.

"What was that?" Sarge snapped.

"I said- uh- that you're absolutely right, sir, Lopez' sacrifice was noble."

"Damn straight!" Sarge barked, turning back to his warthog.

Cody took a breath. "Anyway. We're leaving at half-noon for the other box canyon. Any Red Team feeling like coming along? We've got space for seven. Team hasn't been decided yet."

"Donut might want to go," Simmons said.

"Take Grif, too!" Sarge said. "Let him test the parachute! Any of 'em got any holes?"

"No, we tested them yesterday," Cody said. "They're fully functional."

"Dagnabbit. Foiled again."

Cody didn't respond to that, turning instead to Simmons. "How is Grif? Doing any better?"

"I think he's just acting at this point," Simmons said.

"His leg got crushed by a boulder just two days ago!"

"He doesn't have that leg anymore. He has a robot leg."

"Y todavía no tengo un cuerpo," Lopez said. "Putas."

Cody's eyebrows rose at the robot's expletives and the realization none of Red Team had bothered to learn what the bot was saying. She turned to Simmons. "So- did you want to come along, or shall I ask Donut?"

"I think it's up to Sarge," Simmons said. "We still answer to him."

"Sarge? Who do you want to send? It's still part of the rescue mission for Doc."

"Simmons, go get Donut and meet 'em at Blue Base. I'll stay here in case it's all a trap set by those dirty blues to get our base isolated!"

"Sir, if they have seven parachutes, and there's only three used by me, Donut, and Lieutenant Cody, then that means the other four will be used by Blue Team. There's only five members of Blue Team. You would still have Lopez and Grif here-"

"So we'd outnumber 'em three to one! Ha! See if their plan works then!" Sarge said. "Ain't no dirty blue gettin' round this sharp-minded soldier."

Simmons sighed. "I'll get Donut."

He headed into the base as Cody thanked him and bade them farewell. She crossed back to Blue Base at a run, trying to get her energy levels up. Once there, she filled half an hour with preparing supply bags and setting out parachutes with them. She speculated who from Blue Team would stay behind. Carolina's fighting prowess would come in handy, and Cody couldn't see the Freelancer staying out of the action. Washington seemed to have an almost paternal care for his team- she doubted he'd leave them out of his sight on a potentially dangerous mission if he could help it. Tucker had been the one to list out the reasons they should save Doc; it wouldn't make sense for him to stay behind. Caboose- all it would take is mentioning his friend needed him and the blue trooper would be there. Kaikaina had been the one to stay behind and host raves during most of the Reds and Blues action, which could mean she'd want to finally be in on the action, or she'd be happy to stay behind and throw more raves.

Cody finished packing and headed upstairs, gulping down a protein bar while Blue Team returned from PT. Within a quarter of an hour, supply packs and parachutes were distributed, Blue Team bickered about who to send and who to stay behind, and Simmons and Donut debated the merits of underground solar-powered gardens, like fucking nerds.

"Okay, okay, shut the fuck up," Washington said at last. "We'll send the same group from the caves, swapping Grif for Donut. I'll stay behind with Kaikaina. Cody's ship should have some kind of emergency alert button- I'll work on fixing the radios while you're gone, and then she can use that to alert me if anything goes wrong. In that situation, you'll have me, Kaikaina, Sarge, Lopez, and Grif to get you out of any trouble. Got it?"

"Yeah, whatever," mumbled Blue Team, except for Caboose, who seemed thrilled.

"Man, I never get to do anything fun," Kaikaina complained.

"You're not even a real soldier," Tucker said. "You just stole some armor and a ship!"

"I still got sent here by Command," Kaikaina said.

"Wait, _what?"_ Cody looked between the two. "She's not actually enlisted?"

"No," Tucker said. "We were told we'd get a new troop soon, and then she showed up. That was around the time we first found the caves. She didn't actually have any training, though."

"I taught myself to use a semi-automatic while they were gone to Chorus," Kaikaina told Cody proudly. "That's part of why Junior left to live with the aliens."

Cody didn't know how to reply to this.

She clapped her hands together and turned to the others. "Okay! Shall we go, then? Everybody ready? It's about a two-to-three hour walk to my ship's crash, but from there it's only about half an hour to the other box canyon."

"What? You said your ship crashed a few miles away!" Tucker said.

"A few," Cody noted, "Or like ten or twelve. Not more than twenty."

" _Twenty!?"_

Cody grinned behind her visor. "A _slight_ exaggeration. Jeez, can't take a joke?"

"No, I'm just not used to you joking," Tucker said. "Caught me off-guard."

"Alright. Ready check: Blue Team?"

Carolina glanced around and Tucker and Caboose nodded. "Ready."

"Ready," Tucker added.

"Red Team?"

"Ready."

"Ready!"

"Then let's move out," Cody said.

"Hey, Wash?"

Cody headed for the door as Washington turned toward Carolina. "Yeah?"

"Take care."

There was a pause, and then, "I will. You, too."


End file.
